


War of the Underworld: Revival

by DHersheyPlus



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), ソードアート・オンライン - 川原礫 | Sword Art Online - Kawahara Reki
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brotp, F/M, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25190890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DHersheyPlus/pseuds/DHersheyPlus
Summary: Yes, this is yet another fix it fan fic of season 3, part 2. And I've checked all the boxes, too! Eugeo is alive, Kirito is perfectly fine/dead/not in a position to have any actual effect on the story, Alice is...the same(ish), but there's more Asuna! And bonus for all you light novel readers, Kikuoka is back in his red Hawaiian shirt! So please, Enjoy! Mine's different I swear!
Relationships: Eugeo & Alice Zuberg | Alice Synthesis Thirty, Eugeo & Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito, Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna
Comments: 18
Kudos: 32





	1. Prologue I - Friends Never Say Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this follows the same format as the light novels. When the story is told from Kirito's POV it will be in first person. Everyone else will be written in third person. Thank you.

There isn’t much I haven’t shared

with you along the road.

And through it all, there’ll always be

Tomorrow’s episode.

Suddenly, that isn’t true.

There’s another avenue;

Beckoning the great divide.

Ask no questions. Take no side.

Who’s to say who’s right or wrong?

Who’s course is braver run?

All I know is all we had is over,

Said and done.

Friends never say goodbye.

(Friends) never say goodbye.

_Elton John, The Road to El Dorado_

* * *

I stood there surrounded by rubble and destruction. After the battle that had raged through the early hours of the morning, the silence was almost deafening. The Administrator, Quinella, was gone and so was the clown. While it wasn’t an outright win—I hadn’t been successful in dealing a killing blow and she had almost escaped to the real world where her alleged human contact from Rath would do God only knew what with her—it was still a victory. Finally…

“It’s over,” I whispered to the empty air. I turned to my left to see what was left of the flaxen haired boy whom I had called my best friend for the last two years. With a shuddered sigh and a voice like that of a small child, his name involuntarily escaped my lips.

“Eugeo.”

I stumbled over to where he was, vaguely aware that the black leather coat of Kirito, The Black Swordsman of Aincrad was dissipating into the black woolen tunic of Kirito, citizen and criminal of the Underworld. The pink and red stained ice created from the Blue Rose Sword shattered into nothing, leaving a bisected body and a pool of blood in its wake. As I reached him my knees buckled and without thought I summoned the luminous elements necessary to heal him. The glow from my hand was so faint I had to squint to see it, but I pressed on, determined to save _someone_ after my failures of the last twenty-four hours.

“Please, work. Stop bleeding! Heal damn it, C’mon! You _can’t_ die! Eugeo!!”

The more desperate I became, the less it seemed to work. The red liquid that represented Eugeo’s life continued to poor from the split in his body. I could feel the panic rising and rational thought leaving me. My sacred arts priority level was definitely too low to deal with a wound like this. To fix this would require something stronger, something more absolute, something requiring a—

A hand laid itself over my wrist stopping not only my train of thought, but also the ineffectual healing arts I had just barely managed to produce. With a startled gasp I turned to look at the face of my friend. His eyes were glassy and obviously struggling to stay focused on my face. I hadn’t realized that he was still conscious. He must have been in a world of pain, unless the shock had kicked in….Did shock even exist in this world? I mentally slapped myself for that thought. It was something to contemplate later. There were far more pressing matters at the moment. He opened his mouth, and with a stuttered intake of breath he started to speak.

“Stay cool…Kirito.”

“…!”

I felt my eyes widen with the implication of that phrase; my words from that night slamming into me with the full force of a bullet train.

_I know I told you that phrase is like saying “bye”, but it’s not something you say to someone going to bed._

_Why not?_

‘ _Cause you don’t. You use it when you’re_ _really_ _saying good-bye to someone._

My denial quickly set in after that.

“Eugeo…let go. I’m trying to heal you.”

He smiled at me with a sort of macabre amusement. It was a smile fully accepting of his fate.

“Don’t bother. It’s fine. Really. Leave it.”

His every breath seemed to be a struggle. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. Not to Eugeo. Not to sweet, naive, gentle Eugeo who only wanted to rescue his childhood friend. I was the one who dragged him into this war with the integrity knights and Administrator. I was the one who made him want to be a hero. From the very beginning I was the one who preyed on his dream of wanting to be a swordsman. This was my fault and I had to fix it.

“What are you saying?! I’m not gonna let you die!”

“No. This is for the best,” he said. He seemed to contemplate that for a moment, then said, “It has to be. Otherwise, you and I, we would have fought over Alice. Me, to get back the memory of the Alice I knew. And you, to save Alice the knight’s soul.”

I breathed in a slow gasp at that revelation. He wasn’t wrong. While I had made that deal with her involving Selka when we were stranded on the side of the cathedral, I wasn’t actually sure if I would have been able to go through with it. In the end it would have to be her choice. I knew that in a calmer, more logical time and place Eugeo would completely agree with my assessment. But this wasn’t a calm or logical circumstance, and Eugeo needed a reason to keep going. To hang on and live to fight—or fight to live—another day. He needed a fire lit under him, so I threw his words back at him.

“Then get up and fight! I’m gonna heal you, _then_ we’ll fight. You’re way stronger than me now. Do it! Do it for the old Alice’s sake. Fight me.”

The tears started to get the better of me in the end and the wind left my sails. So much for my attempted great call to action. That wouldn’t have inspired even the most aggro heavy mob to attack. I was guessing that the wheezing sound that escaped his lips was supposed to be an exasperated sigh.

“I _can’t_ fight. With a broken sword. Besides, I was weak. And gave into Administrator. I tried to kill you. This is how I can pay for that sin.”

_That’s_ what this was about?! That was his entire reasoning? He was willing to die over some perceived failure? My emotions exploded. “Like I care! You weren’t in your right mind anyway! You fought back and snapped out of it like the badass you are! If it wasn’t for you, we couldn’t have beat Administrator. So you got nothing to feel guilty about! You got nothing to pay for!”

He became quiet for a moment, then, almost like a man at confession, he whispered, “I wish that were true….You know, I always wished that I could be more like you. You’re so brave and everyone loves you….I bet Alice does, too.”

I certainly hoped not. For the briefest second there was a flash in my mind of a beautiful strawberry blonde woman bent over at her waist laughing hysterically. My wife, Asuna, always seemed to find endless amusement in the unfortunate affections I forever seemed to receive from the female sex. I wondered how amused she would be if any of those girls ever actually decided to _act_ on those feelings.

With what appeared to be a great feat of strength, Eugeo lifted the purple iridescent crystal containing an eleven year old Alice Zuberg’s memories to my hand.

“Now I know love isn’t something you get. It’s something you give. Alice taught me that.”

The world filled with light.

I no longer felt the hardness of the floor nor the pain of my severed arm. A gentle flow carried my soul somewhere distant. Even the terrible sadness engulfing my heart simply melted away in that warm light.

And then…

I looked up at the sunlight filtering itself through the leaves of the trees. There was a warm breeze causing the soft grass to sway to and fro, and for a moment I thought I was back in Aincrad with an irate Asuna about to ridicule me for not scouting the labyrinth with everyone else. That was until I heard the voice of a different girl next to me.

“Your hands are idle, Kirito.”

I looked to my right to see a young Alice sitting cross-legged next to me. A wave of nostalgia hit me in my chest, but that was not unusual. During my two years trapped in the Underworld I had experienced something not unlike deja vu many times before. The only difference this time was the lack of frustration that usually came with it. The girl with the long braided cornsilk hair had a mischievous glint in her eye as she smiled at me. Then, she started to speak again.

“I don’t see you working. Look!” She held up a sheath for a short sword. The fine brown leather had obviously been polished with some oil and a rag, and stitched into the surface was what looked like an elongated dog. _It’s supposed to be a dragon,_ my subconscious whispered to me. The tail wasn’t finished and a sharp silver needle was hanging from the leftover length of sturdy looking white thread. “I’m almost done making my part of it. How far did _you_ get?” She sounded so smug. Before I could ask her what was going on, my mouth opened seemingly all on its own and started speaking words I had not consciously thought.

“I’m _way_ further along than you. The guard’s all that’s left.” I held up my left hand which was gripping something and tapped at it with my right index finger. I looked to see what it was I was holding. I held in my hands a toy wooden sword carved from a branch of platinum oak. How I knew that, I wasn’t entirely sure. And, as proclaimed, it seemed finished except for some detail work on the guard.

“Then let’s stay here and keep working until we finish it.”

“Hmm…But what if he comes looking? Let’s go back.”

The only ‘he’ I could think of would be Eugeo, so the sword must have been for him, then. That was when I remembered.

Eugeo. He was dying and he wanted to show me something.

A memory. He had said that the integrity knights were not the only ones to have their memories stolen.

Rath. They had lied to me only once, but it was an absolutely unforgivable lie. During my three day dive—which felt like an eternity ago—they had told me that the Fluctlight Acceleration (FLA) feature would be set at 3.3 to 1, or 10 days in total. At the end of the dive they had blocked all my memories in order to “protect company secrets”.

But, by my estimation, it had to have been at least 300 times that. I had lived in this world for ten _years_. I had experienced an entire second childhood from infancy until age eleven. Eugeo and Alice were my best friends, and I had been in the square the day she was taken by the integrity knight. More than that, _I_ was the one to convince those two the go into the cave that day. And Eugeo had been left all alone to carry the burden of those memories because Rath had pulled me out and blocked my memories as a means so that I wouldn’t—couldn’t—know any different.

Two years ago, when I had just woken up in this place, I saw a vision of that sunset at the bank of the river in the woods. When fighting against Eugeo, I had a sensation of kids sword fighting. And right now, with Eugeo on the brink of death, I was experiencing this scene about the platinum oak sword. These things weren’t illusions. They were fragments of memories that had been deleted, things I had really experienced.

I let myself fall completely into the memory. Eugeo had wanted me to see it for a reason. I turned my attention back to Alice and watched as it had played out exactly as it had all those years ago.

“But we’re almost finished! Let’s stay. Just a little bit longer. Please?…”

Even with the ‘please’ tacked onto the end I knew I didn’t really have a choice. There was a determined look in her eyes and I begrudgingly accepted that we would sit in this clearing all afternoon if that’s what it took to finish the sword and matching scabbard. Little Alice Zuberg loved Eugeo more than anything in the world. Definitely more than me, and maybe even more than her little sister Selka.

“Hmm, okay, you win. But we should still hurry it up.”

She enthusiastically nodded in agreement (with a squeaky hum to match) and we turned our attention back to our individual tasks. Not even twenty minutes later I removed the last sliver of wood from the groove I had created. However, Alice still managed to beat me with the stitching of the tail on her dog/dragon.

“All done!”

“So am I!”

We held out our handy work in front of us, proud of the accomplishment. There was no doubt in either of our minds that these were even finer than Eugeo’s wooden toy sword that had broken a month ago. We were so distracted that we had failed to notice that the boy in question had actually joined our party.

“Wait….You’ve been _here_ this whole time? What are you two doing?”

With a startled gasp I clutched the platinum oak sword to my chest.

“Um, nothing?”

Alice and I looked wide eyed at each other. Alice pursed her lips and grabbed the sword from my hands. I was reluctant to let it go and almost fell over when she finally wrestled it free from my grasp. She slid the sword into its sheath as she stood up, and with a large smile on her face she turned to face Eugeo.

“It’s three days too early, but…Oh, well! Happy birthday, Eugeo!”

As she presented the sword to Eugeo, his face went slack in surprise. The young boy who so desperately wanted to be a heroic swordsman carefully reached out a small hand to run his fingers over the white stitching.

“Is…is that…for _me_?”

I pushed myself to my feet. “It’s no match for the real thing—like your big brother’s got.” I slapped the dirt and grass off the back of my britches as I turned to face him. “Still, this one’s better than any the shop in town carries!” I flashed him cheeky a smile while giving a big thumbs up with my left hand to emphasize my point.

Eugeo’s eyes became misty as he reached out to take the sword from Alice. He held it reverently in his hands, almost as if he were afraid it would disappear. “It’s wonderful! It…It’s beautiful! I’ll take good care of it. Thank you, both. I never got a birthday gift that made me so…so happy!”

The tears finally leaked out of the corner of his eyes and glided down his chubby pre-teen cheeks. Sure, we had put a lot of time and effort into it, but still….

“Hey! What are you crying for?!”

“I wasn’t!”

Then, immediately contradicting his words, Eugeo brought up his left arm and started to furiously rub at his eyes—wiping away the traitorous tears.

“See?”

He smiled larger than I had ever seen before, or since. I felt my own lips begin to curl up before the world shimmered and became dark around the edges. We were no longer in the meadow, no longer in the memory. Instead, the three of us stood on a cobblestone road with a fork splitting it. I stood before one path and them the other. I felt panic rise within me and took a step forward, determined to follow after them. My best friends.

“Wait!”

But it was almost as if I had hit a wall. My limbs were no longer mine to command and I stood frozen, staring at them. Never before had I fully comprehended how difficult it must have been for Eugeo to overcome the Seal-of-the-Right-Eye. He must have felt so frustrated and useless in that square all those years ago. And he must have come to possess a will power rivaling that of my own in order to have saved Tiese and Ronye.

“The three of us grew up together and were the best of friends,” Eugeo said.

Alice smiled and continued, “We’re going different ways now, but our memories will live forever.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head back and forth as I clenched my fists. I didn’t want to believe what they were saying. When I opened my eyes Eugeo was his nineteen year old self again, and my eye line was noticeably higher as well. I looked down at myself and saw I was back in the wool tunic I had lifted from the armory on one of the lower floors of the cathedral. My gaze trailed back up to Eugeo and Alice as they clasped hands and took a small step backwards. Then, they opened their mouths and spoke as one.

“We’ll be with you. Forever. You see? It’s fine.”

And with another flash of light—this one much harsher than the last—I was back on the hundredth floor touching Eugeo’s right hand with my left. Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered that the pain caused by my missing right arm had returned, but the sorrow within my breast was gone. As Eugeo’s hand, still clutching Alice Zuberg’s memory crystal, fell away to the cold marble floor a new resolve was solidifying in my mind.

“You see? It’s fine. So don’t cry, Kirito,” Eugeo brokenly whispered in a raspy voice.

As carefully as I could, I scooped up his torso and cradled his head under my chin. This inadvertently pushed his two halves back together causing a slight groan of pain to escape his lips. I barely heard it. My mind was moving far too quickly now. He only had minutes left, if that.

I whispered to him in return, “I won’t. Like you said, a person is never really gone. His memories live on in other people. In their hearts and souls…forever.”

“Forever and ever…”

He continued to say more, but it was drowned out by the two words bouncing around my head like the tiny silver balls in a pachinko machine.

_I Refuse._

“Eugeo, I won’t lie. What comes next is going to be harder than anything either of us have ever gone through…but with your memories intact now, I think you’ll be able to handle it until I get back.”

I pulled his head away just in time to see his now unfocused eyes widen in confusion. I knew that time was up. If I was going to do anything, then it had to be right now. I gingerly lowered Eugeo back to the floor and grabbed his right wrist once more.

“Kirito, what are you—“

“System Call: Transfer Human Unit Durability, Self to Right.”

I ignored his choked gasp as he pitifully attempted to pull his arm away from me. But right now, I was the stronger of the two of us. Obviously, my <<Life>> wasn’t at 100 percent, but there was enough left to save him. It wouldn’t heal him completely and it was definitely going to kill me, but Alice could finish fixing him up when she re-awoke.

I had already started to consider this course of action before when normal healing arts clearly wouldn’t be enough. To fix this would require something stronger, something more absolute, something requiring a true sacrifice. And if sacrificing all my <<Life>> would save Eugeo, then I would gladly do it.

A high pitched whir followed the echos of my voice. It swelled, and then a pillar of blue light surrounded the two of us. I remembered that day in the End Mountains when Selka had performed this same art to save a gutted Eugeo two years ago. And that night before graduation day at the sword craft academy when Charolette guided me on using the <<Life>> of the other flowers to regrow my own. The same shining blue light had appeared both of those times as well.

It felt like my body itself was melting into the light and flowing out of my hand causing a sort of numbing sensation. In fact, little motes of light _were_ visibly passing from my body through my left arm and into Eugeo’s hand. With blurred vision I recalled the enormity of what it meant for pain to be the payment in this world.

Pain, suffering, and sadness. Clearly, these things were unnecessary in a virtual world, but Rath’s engineers were hoping to find a breakthrough by tormenting the residents’ fluctlights. And my unexpected presence and salvation of Eugeo would be unwanted interference with their project. They could all go to Hell as far as I was concerned. Soul without a physical body or not, Eugeo was my friend. I would not let him die. Not like this.

As the life flowed out of me, a terrifying chill began to descend. My vision grew darker and darker, but I still tried desperately to keep track of Eugeo’s condition. His two halves had rejoined and what was now just a wound across his stomach was slowly getting smaller, but it was no where close to being fully healed, not by a long shot. His complexion was still ashy. Even the bleeding was still ongoing. I kept going. I wasn’t anywhere near being done, yet.

When I lost my life in this world, it wouldn’t bother me a bit. As long as I saved Eugeo’s life, I could withstand twice the amount of pain I had experienced earlier. I could tell very clearly, despite my fading senses, that the life was draining out of me. Soon Kirito would, once again, die and Kazuto Kirigaya would wake up on the other side in his place. And once that happened, I would expose Higa and Kikuoka to my seething, white hot rage. I could only hope that they wouldn’t be able to block my memories again before that happened. After all, I came into this world without a blocked memory. Surely, I would leave without it blocked, too.

“Kirito, stop! If you keep going, you’ll die!” Eugeo’s voice was much stronger now. Good. That meant it was working.

“Trust me; it’s fine,” I barely managed to gasp out.

Was this death? A pretend death of the soul within the Underworld…or could the death of my soul kill my physical body, too? It was cold enough to make that idea plausible to me. Somewhere in the back of my mind there was a glimmer of a thought about a series of books from England about mages in a castle with ghost-like creatures that would suck out your soul. The thought ended there. Everything was numb now and it was getting harder to think.

I needed to focus. I couldn’t lose my mind just yet. I forced my frozen lips apart. There were a final few things I needed to say before I disappeared completely.

-WoU-

Eugeo stared on in disbelief. The bleeding had stopped and he was able to mostly sit up on his own now. The pain had settled at a manageable level and his vision had returned. This, of course, allowed him a crystal clear view of his best friend and what was happening to him as a result.

Kirito was shining ever so slightly. At first, Eugeo thought that it was the blue light that was giving him that effect, but, with a start, he realized that the black haired boy had actually turned ever so slightly translucent. Eugeo once again tried to pull his arm away, but Kirito’s grip remained impossibly firm. He had lost nearly all color now, except for his eyes. Those were now shining a strange gold.

“…Listen,” Kirito’s lips trembled as he pushed the word out. It was obvious to Eugeo that it was taking every ounce of strength he had left in order to speak. “It’s going to be okay. You just have to trust me. I’m going to come back. I don’t know exactly how long it will be before I do, but eventually I will. And, while I’m gone, there are a few things I need you to do.”

Eugeo shook his head. _He_ was the one who was supposed to die. Not Kirito. Kirito was going to save the world. He was going to be its hero. What was the world going to do without its hero?! All except for those unnerving golden eyes, Kirito had gone completely white. His lips were barely moving and as a result his voice was getting fainter, too. Eugeo strained to hear, not wanting to miss a single word.

“I can feel you shaking your head at me. Stop it. I need you to listen to me. While Alice and I were climbing the outside wall of the cathedral we made a deal. She wanted me to take her back to Rulid Village so that she could see Selka. What happens after that the two of you can work out for yourselves.”

_Selka?!_ The sudden manic nature of Eugeo’s thoughts wouldn’t allow for him to focus on any one thing for an extended length of time on account of the fact that his best friend was _actually dying_ right in front of him, and he couldn’t conjure up a single thing he could do to stop it. The ravenette was becoming more and more see-through by the second, and the blue light was fading now, as well.

Kirito continued, “The other thing I need you to do is look after my sword for me. I’ve been a disgraceful partner, always just calling it ‘the black one’ and never actually giving it a real name. After all, when I was fighting the integrity knight version of you, I made a promise that I would. So if you could do that for me, I would appreciate it.”

Eugeo was fairly certain that Kirito would have smiled at the last bit if he could have, but he was nothing but faint bits of glowing golden specs of light now. The blue shine surrounding them before had completely faded away. Eugeo managed to sit up fully on his own. He ignored the pain and the woozy head rush that followed.

“And the last thing I need from you is this: don’t mourn me. I know that it’s hard to believe right now, but this is only temporary. I’ll be back. I promise. Just try and stop me!” Kirito made a sound of triumph when he finished. He was gone. The sound of his ghostly laughter bounced off the marble walls of the empty hall, giving it a more eerie quality than a reassuring one.

Eugeo sat there, stunned. He was alive. His partner was not. He had never understood what deafening silence was before that moment. It was ringing in his ears. He looked around at the rubble and destruction that surrounded him. The battle before was long and hard, but the real fight was only just starting.

Then, Eugeo looked to his right. The only things left of his best friend—his brother—were the obsidian colored sword made of a cedar wood stronger than steel and a flouncy pink handkerchief, covered in some kind of black gunk, with an olive branch and the letter ‘A’ embroidered on the corner.


	2. Prologue II - Attack on the Ocean Turtle

Sargent First Class Natsuki Aki, or Nurse Aki, had first been assigned to care for Kazuto Kirigaya a little more than a year and a half ago. When the SAO Incident had begun, his mother had checked him into a hospital in Chiyoda Ward, and when he woke up, two years later, his condition had forced him to stay in the hospital for an entire month, during which time he was required to start his physical therapy. It took Mr. Kikuoka—the then leader of the SAO task force—hardly any time at all after that to uncover that Natsuki had been a graduate of the Tokyo Self-Defense Force Higher School of Nursing, and, as a result, she had been promptly transferred from trauma to rehabilitation.

She hadn’t been briefed on who she was caring for until after their first session together. She had to admit that the first time she met Kazuto, she hadn’t thought much about him. He was a kid with twitchy fingers who was constantly surveying his surroundings. Every time she teased him he barely reacted, and he didn’t want to talk much. She had pitied him for whatever traumatic, hellish experiences he had been forced to live through.

Then, she was told a story about the hero of Aincrad.

After that, she saw him for what he really was: a soldier unexpectedly pulled out of a war zone, trying to make the difficult transition back to civilian life. After her graduation from nursing school she had done a tour with Doctors Without Borders to, in a way, complete her education. These kinds mental scars were familiar to her, and that, in turn, had actually made it easier for her to talk to him. There was no longer any pity, only admiration. And with every hours long session spent together, the more comfortable he became opening up to her. He wasn’t some scared kid. He was a man with an incredibly strong will trying to make the best of his situation.

By the end of his rehab, she found herself feeling a bit wistful and, perhaps, even a little melancholy. She was going to miss him. In the month they had worked together he had started to feel more like a kid brother of sorts rather than a patient. She recalled how, as his body had built itself back up, the female volunteers would watch him through the windows of the training room. At first, she had thought he was oblivious to the attention…until he started to flirt with them in order to get things. One thing he asked for on the regular was the use of a laptop. Another that came up near constantly was the request to make calls from their cell phones. Natsuki had no idea why he was doing these things, but that was when she first realized that there was so much more going on behind the facade that he presented to the world known as Kazuto Kirigaya.

She had been pleased a year later to receive the call from Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka requesting her for a job once again involving Kirigaya. It had only lasted two days, but it warmed her heart to see that he was doing well. And she got to meet his girlfriend, Asuna Yuuki, as well. Natsuki thought everything was going to be alright for her favorite hero, which was why it came as such a shock for her when, a week ago, she got the call that she did.

As soon as she had been told what happened, she gladly dropped everything and jumped on a helicopter to come to the JSDF base off the Izu Islands called The Ocean Turtle. It may have been her orders to do it, but even if it weren’t, she still would have done it anyway. Her first night on the mega-float had been spent reading a 300 page dossier on the Soul Translator (STL) and its predecessor, the medicuboid. Aki couldn’t help but be impressed by the machine. It had the ability to change the face of modern medicine as the world knew it. And if someone actually took the time to read up, it wasn’t all that difficult to use, either. Now, six days later, she could measure Kirigaya’s fluctlight and brainwave activity with perfect ease.

The brain scan taken the previous night had presented the most optimistic results of his treatment, thus far. Natsuki secretly suspected that it might have had something to do with the impromptu arrival of Ms. Yuuki. Whenever she had come up to the sub-control room level (Sub-Con) to visit, the neurons in his brain had lit up like a fireworks show. Hopefully Mr. Higa would declare that it was safe to wake the sleeping Kirigaya sometime that night.

Nurse Aki swapped out the nearly empty saline drip for a full one, mentally checking the task off of her list of afternoon procedures. That was the one thing she didn’t like about the machine. It completely covered his face, forcing her to rely entirely on the numbers it provided her instead of allowing her to use the coloring of his face, eyes, and mouth as an indicator of the care to provide like she was used to. As a result, these daily procedures had become near sacred rituals as far as she was concerned.

Her lunch break was scheduled for 14:30, and she wanted to finish updating his chart before then. She checked the watch on her wrist. It read that it was only 14:08, so there was no reason for her to rush. There was plenty of time to allow her to do her job deliberately and effectively.

That was when the popping noises had started.

It took only one second for her to register and catalogue the noise, then one more to make the mental switch from Natsuki, personal nurse to Kazuto Kirigaya, to Sargent First Class Aki, personal body guard to Kazuto Kirigaya. Aki had been given her orders to protect him, ‘life and limb’ as she had assured Ms. Yuuki. While nothing had been expected to happen, a series of protocols had still been created just in case an emergency occurred. And, as unlikely an event as it was, it appeared that one had come up.

She calmly made her way over to the viewing windows of STL - Room Two, turned makeshift infirmary, and dropped the blinds before twisting them closed. After she was sure nobody could see in, she walked over to the door, smoothly turning off the lights as she passed them. Just to the right of the door frame, on the top of an adequately sized metal table, was her first aid bag. Inside was all of the usual things in case there were staff members requiring medical assistance on other parts of the base, but Aki was much more interested in the locked drawer located just underneath the lip of the table-top.

She removed a silver chain from under her smock that had a small matching silver key hanging on the end. She fitted the key into the drawer’s lock, then twisted it to the right. The drawer silently slid open, and inside was a SIG Sauer P220 standard service pistol of the JSDF along with the required ammo. Aki expertly loaded the gun and flipped the safety off. She made one last cursory look at Kirigaya’s vitals before exiting the room and securely closing the door behind her.

As she stepped out of the little alcove into the main corridor, she held the gun directly out in front of her, then proceeded to check that both directions were clear before facing it back down towards the floor. She first went to the right to close the bulkhead leading down to the main-control room level (Main-Con) and enabled the security measures that would allow only key authorized personell into Sub-Con. When the titanium reinforced door had closed completely the popping noises of gunfire ceased as well. She checked her watch again just as 14:08 turned to 14:09. Just under a minute. Good.

She turned on her heal and started walking back down the hall towards the stairs leading up to Sub-Con. She swiftly made her way up the first flight, and when the floor to ceiling viewing screens came into view she made a one-eighty and continued up the second flight to the observation deck where all the desks, chairs, controls, and, most importantly, the phones were located. She picked up the phone at the first work station she came to and pressed the button labeled ‘MAIN’. It rang a few times before somebody picked up.

“H-hello?” A very shaky voice answered followed by a small yelp. Aki ascertained that this meant that she was most likely speaking to one of the engineers, not JSDF. She could hear the exchange of gunfire through the receiver.

“Yes. This is Sargent First Class Natsuki Aki up in Sub-Con. What’s going on down there?”

-WoU-

“Lt. Colonel, the door’s been breeched. We _have_ to leave. They’ll be in the control room any second now. We’re abandoning Main-Con and closing the pressure-resistant bulkhead.”

“No, wait! Just buy me a couple of minutes. I still have a few things to sort out here. We can’t let them take this place now.”

Seijiro Kikuoka had been caught off guard far too many times for his liking in the last few days. First this organization calling themselves the Axiom Church had taken Alice, followed by Kirito being attacked by the missing Death Gun accomplice. Then, Asuna had managed to con her way onto a top-secret JSDF research base, and now it seemed that everything was quite literally blowing up in his face. Things were out of control, and he didn’t like when things were outside of his control. It was causing him to lash out.

“Higa, isn’t the lockdown done, yet?”

He looked over at the bespectacled young man. The calm disposition Takeru Higa had managed to maintain throughout the echos of automatic rifles and sidearms going off all around him was very impressive. He was only a civilian after all. His fingers never stopped moving across the control keys and his eyes didn’t even leave the screen as he responded.

“I need another eighty—no, seventy seconds.”

Just then, a second-lieutenant called out from the far end of the console, “Sir, Sargent First Class Aki is on the phone. She says that she has secured Kirigaya up in STL - Room Two, and she has already closed the secondary bulkhead separating the Upper and Lower Shafts. Sub-Con is officially blocked off from Main-Con. Only someone with level three clearance can open the door now. She’s wondering what your orders are.”

Well, at least one thing had gone right. “Tell her to hang up the phone and sit tight. The rest of us will be up there soon. In the mean time, I need you to start leading the Rath staffers up the walkway between the primary and secondary bulkheads. Then, wait for someone with the appropriate clearance to open the door.”

“Yes, sir!”

As he ran off, Kikuoka turned back to Higa. “How we doing?”

“Don’t worry, Kiku, we’re almost there. Just activating the final encryption to keep these guys out.”

Kikuoka couldn’t help but feel that it wouldn’t be enough. Whoever they were, these people seemed to know _exactly_ what they were doing. They had bypassed all twelve lower decks and headed straight for the Main Control Room. He smelled a rat.

_They know about the project._

“Crank the FLA rate up to a thousand.”

“Huh?! What for?”

“They’re here for Alice.” For the first time in minutes Higa stopped typing and looked away from his screen. When the two men made eye contact, it was obvious just how serious Kikuoka was with his request.

“…Sure, Kiiks, no Problem.” Higa reached for the lever and pushed it from 120 to 1000. Kikuoka hoped that would be enough to keep these people from finding her. Higa was doing everything he could to lock these guys out of the simulation, but in the panic of the moment there were sure to be things that they _all_ had missed. Right then, it was best practice to take every precaution that they could.

If only they could have somehow made contact with Kirito, or more specifically, a Kirito who hadn’t had his memories of the real world blocked. That would have solved so many problems. Kikuoka knew with every cell in his body that Kirito would have located Alice and then would have safely escorted her to the World’s End Alter, but there was no point in chasing after pipe dreams that would never come to pass.

“Sir! They’re about to infiltrate the electrical room!” shouted Lieutenant Nakanishi, before he fired two more rounds from his gun.

Kikuoka shot to his feet, turning to face the entrance of Main-Con for the first time since the bullets started flying. “What?!” There was a strangled gasp behind him. He heard Higa’s chair hastily scrape across the floor as the other man clumsily got to his feet, prompting Kikuoka to turn back towards the terminal.

“This is bad. We’re screwed! If they cut the main power line now, it’s gonna cause a surge….The Lightcube Cluster _should_ be safe, but Kirigaya’s STL in Sub-Con _won’t be_. The surge will cook his fluctlight!”

Kikuoka stared at Higa in silent horror. The implications behind that statement were not lost on him. His sharp intake of breath was barely heard over the rat-i-tat-tat of automatic weapons. “But…that can’t be. How?! There are numerous safety measures on the STL; not to mention the redundancies.”

Higa was already shaking his head before Kikuoka had finished speaking. “They were all deactivated. He’s receiving treatment, remember?!”

A split-second of silence fell, until Kikuoka broke it.

“Okay. I’ll handle the rest of the lockdown. Higa, you take Dr. Kojiro and Asuna, and get to the Upper Shaft. Keep Kirito safe.”

Higa didn’t need to be told twice. He took off running in the same direction the rest of the Rath staffers had gone. His clearance was high enough to open the secondary bulkhead. He would make it. He had to. The rest of the JSDF had already evacuated through the primary bulkhead. The only two people left in Main-Con were Lt. Nakanishi and Seijiro Kikuoka himself.

Just as the screen flashed confirmation that all commands had been executed, a smoke bomb was thrown into the room. It was time to retreat and join the others. As he was running, Kikuoka took a moment to be grateful that he had decided to wear his red Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts that morning instead of his traditional cotton yukata. The two men fled through the primary bulkhead and closed it behind them, enabling the same security protocols that Aki had done earlier to the secondary door.

As they turned to start making their way towards the others, the lights began to flicker, and there was a sudden jolt to the mega-float.

-WoU-

Aki sat alone in Sub-Con as she stared at the wall that made up the viewing screens. Taking up a small portion of the left side was the security feed to STL - Room Two. She checked her watch again, 14:11. Kirigaya seemed stable. There had been no change to his condition in the three minutes since she had left him. For a brief second she envied him, to be able to sleep peacefully through this. He was the only person on this rig completely—blissfully—unaware of what was happening down below.

After calling down to Main-Con, she had been extremely grateful when the Rath researcher had immediately handed the phone over to one of the JSDF guys. It had saved so much time, and in a situation like this every second was the difference between life and death.

In the distance she heard the mechanical release of air-pressure, indicating that the bulkhead had opened. She readied her stance in case it wasn’t the people she was expecting. Her caution was proved unnecessary, though, as a familiar head of sandy brown spiked hair came sprinting up the stairs. Mr. Higa was followed closely by Ms. Yuuki and Dr. Kojiro. There was sweat on his brow and he seemed out of breath. This was confirmed when he just about collapsed into a desk chair gasping for air. Had he run the entire way from Main-Con to Sub-Con?

Following the trio were the rest of the JSDF and the Rath staffers. An officer Aki hadn’t met before was directing everybody to continue through the sliding door at the other end of Sub-Con up another flight of stairs to the bow block. There were mats and blankets up there. The civilian workers would be much more comfortable. Aki hardly paid them any attention, though, as Mr. Higa closed the window containing the security feed of Kirigaya only to open up a black window with nothing but text and began to type furiously on the keyboard.

“Come on, please work. _Please work._ ”

Aki couldn’t begin to fathom what he was muttering about, let alone why he was in such a rush to get it done. She decided to head back down to STL - Room Two. Everyone was here now, and she would probably just be in the way of the higher ranked officers. If the Lt. Colonel needed her, she wouldn’t be hard to find. But before she could take a single step the screens inside the room started to flicker.

“They’re cutting the power. The propellors are going down!”

Mr. Higa slammed his hands onto the counter in frustration just as the rest of the lights in the room went out, followed by the ground lurching to the side. Everyone started to fall, and Aki could hear the scared moans and cries of the civilian staffers. Suffice to say that this was not what they had signed on for.

“What about Kirito?!” Asuna asked.

“I couldn’t do anything in time. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Aki quickly stumbled to her feet. “What about Kirigaya?”

“The power outage would’ve caused a surge of power to go through his STL that would’ve severely damaged his fluctlight. I tried to stop it, but I didn’t get up here in time.”

That was all she needed to hear. Aki took off running for STL - Room Two. The subtle lighting from the glow-in-the-dark paint lines on the floor and stairs were all she needed to guide her. By the time she reached the hallway of the Upper Shaft the back-up security lights had turned on. Just as she started to turn into the tiny alcove housing the door to her makeshift infirmary, the titanium door at the end of the hall opened once again. This time only Lt. Nakanishi and Lt. Colonel Kikuoka stepped through.

Aki checked her watch one last time, 14:13. In just five minutes these intruders had managed to completely take control of the base. She didn’t know who they were or where they came from, but one thing had made itself exceptionally clear: these guys were pros. That made her nervous. After closing the bulkhead and activating its security protocols once again, the men turned and Aki greeted them with a salute.

“Aki, where is everyone?”

“Mr. Higa, Dr. Kojiro, and Ms. Yuuki are all up in Sub-Con. Everyone else went up to the bow block on the next floor. Sir.”

Kikuoka nodded his head at her before turning to the smartly dressed lieutenant at his side.

“Nakanishi, head up to the bow block to check on everyone, I want a status report of our casualties.”

“Yes, sir.” Nakanishi saluted his superior before heading up the stairs to Sub-Con.

“Aki, get your medic bag. I’m sure people got injured in the crossfire. Kirigaya will be fine on his own for now. You can check up on him once you’ve seen to everybody else.”

“Yes, sir.” After saluting as well, she pulled a plastic keycard from the pocket of her smock. She expertly slid it through the reader on the door to STL - Room Two and stepped inside the open door just enough to return her gun back to its home inside the drawer of the metal table and grab her first aid bag from the top of it. It was the size of a duffle bag, and it was very heavy due to it being filled to its maximum capacity with supplies.

She swung in over her shoulder and hauled it through the door, down the hall, up the stairs, through Sub-Con, and up the next flight of stairs into the bow block. Later she would regret not taking a moment to look up at the still form of Kazuto Kirigaya. Otherwise, she would have seen the now visible face of her still sleeping patient.


	3. Chapter One - Cohabitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, All! As I mentioned in the summary for this fic, I am fully aware that this is not a new idea--just a different take on it. Having said that, while I personally love reading those stories, I have decided to stop reading them while I am writing this work. I do not want my writing to be influenced in any way, so if there is anything in this story that comes off as the same or similar to other works, it was not intentionally done. Thank you for reading, and I hope you will continue on this journey with Eugeo, Alice, and Kirito.
> 
> Late update excuses as well as Chapter Notes can be found at the bottom.

**OCTOBER, YEAR 380 IN THE TIME OF HUMANITY**

The breeze that floated in through the open window was unseasonably warm and inviting.Alice stopped washing the breakfast dishes for a moment to close her eyes and enjoy the peaceful feeling wrapping itself around her.She let out a deep sigh of gratification.

Most of the leaves on the trees surrounding the little log house had already turned various shades of red, orange, and gold.Against the gray and stormy skies of the last several days, the entire forest had looked as though it had been set aflame.Today was the first blue sky in over a week, and with the rains having warmed the air of the late autumn, Alice could feel the giddy anticipation slowly overshadowing the usual knot of disquiet in the pit of her stomach.

“It’s such a nice day out, one of the last warm ones of the year.Too nice to stay indoors.”

Colorful images of a quilt laid on the grass and a basket overflowing with goodies swirled in her mind.The idea of sprawling on the ground with her shoes off, basking in the sunshine, and stuffing herself with sweets and savories was too tempting a mental image to pass up.With excitement she turned her back on the full sink, splashing sudsy water as she went.It was a good thing she had put on the apron or her dress would have been completely soaked.

“I know!Let’s have a picnic.Down by the lake.Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

There was no response.

“Eugeo?”

The boy in question turned his disinterested gaze from the window looking out over the garden to blankly gaze back at her.He stared at her for a few seconds before turning to look back at his previous view.While some might have seen this action as rude, Alice was used to it by now.She stifled a pain in her chest that never dulled, no matter how many times she felt it, and resumed her more cheerful disposition.

“Oh, come on!Don’t be like that.It’ll be fun.”

Alice nodded to herself.Decision made, she set to work fixing a lunch basket, the dishes in the sink left forgotten.As she carefully placed clean plates and cutlery inside a wicker hamper, she glanced back up at the sullen boy in front of the window.He hadn’t always been like this.In fact, he had been incredibly open and positive immediately after…well, _after_.

-WoU-

Alice groggily opened her eyes.Every part of her hurt, including muscles she hadn’t even been aware existed.She reached up a hand to wipe away the dirt and grime obscuring her vision.Then, with strength she wasn’t quite sure she possessed at the moment, she pushed herself into a sitting position.Her eyes scanned the room before landing on the still form of a boy clad in blue.

Eugeo.

He was sitting awkwardly on the ground with his legs stretched straight out in front of him as his torso was turned slightly to his right.He was reaching for something on the ground.

Alice struggled to bring herself the rest of the way to her feet, then made her way over to him.The sound of her armor must have alerted him that she was awake.He briefly looked over his shoulder at her before hurriedly stuffing something into the pocket of his pants, protected by the long length of his tunic.

As she made her way over to him, she took note that the entire room had been dismantled and, thankfully, there was no longer any trace of Administrator.Some of the tension in her shoulders released.They had won. _Kirito_ had won….Which just begged the question—

“Where is Kirito?”

Eugeo flinched slightly before slowly looking up at her, frankly, intimidating form.He opened and closed his mouth several times, obviously struggling to get the words out, before bowing his head until his chin met his chest.Then, very quietly, “He left….He said he would be back soon.”

Alice’s left eye narrowed slightly, taken aback.“What do you mean he left?Has he gone to get help?”

A slow shake of the head was the only response from the flaxen haired boy.Then, as though his arms were made of cast iron, he reached to the floor on his right side and lifted a black sword into his lap.

“No.He left as in…he’s gone.As in he’s…he’s dead.He said he would come back.I don’t know how, but…he’s done impossible things before.So, why not this, too?”

He looked up at her with innocent, pleading eyes.Eyes that begged her to agree.To tell him that, yes, of course he was going to come back.Unfortunately, she couldn’t provide him that.She was too busy drowning in the deep, endless lake of her own thoughts and feelings.

_Kirito…You saved my life.You can’t be dead.You saved my life and now you must accept the responsibility of your actions!_

But, of course, there was no answer.Just the ramblings of Eugeo.It was as though Kirito were telling her, _Now you have to think for yourself and choose your own path_.Because as much as Eugeo didn’t want to believe it, Kirito was gone, and no matter what he might have promised in those final moments, Alice knew it was simply an impossibility for him to return.

She fell to her knees.

There was a scraping sound behind them, of stone moving against stone.Alice turned her head to look.After some additional grunting, the elevated disk that also worked as the doorway to the 99th floor flipped over onto the filthy marble floor and a mop of blue hair made itself visible.Alice was relieved to see that her ‘Uncle’, Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli Synthesis One, was seemingly unharmed by Prime Senator Chudelkin’s sacred art, <<Deep Freeze>>.

He walked over to them and stopped just 3 mels short, and with hands on his hips, he surveyed the room with mild interest.He let out a low whistle and looked back at the banged up youths on the floor.

“Hey, kids.Sure looks like you all did a real number on the place, but you three are still alive,” he reached up with his right hand to rub the back of his neck, “So I guess that means you won…wait.Where’s the brat?”For the first time he took in the devastated expressions on their faces.His arm limply fell back down to his side, and then—

“What happened?”

So they told him.Everything.

They told him all about how Eugeo had been captured and tricked into undergoing a <<Synthesis Ritual>>.They told him of how Eugeo had managed to break himself free and hold off the Administrator long enough for Kirito and Alice to rejoin and assist him.They told him of the cryptic conversation between Kirito and Administrator that neither one had really understood.They told him of the fight that had followed and the other Pontifex, Cardinal, and of the Sword Golem.And, finally, they spoke of Kirito.How he had mastered <<Incarnation>> and had beaten Administrator by wielding two swords…and how he had given the last of his <<Life>> to save Eugeo’s own.

A solemn silence surrounded the trio.And Bercouli gave a great sigh of resignation.

“The other knights need to be told what’s happened.Obviously, we’ll leave out the part about the stolen memories and the real story of how the integrity knights were produced.I never really bought into the tale that we were summoned from the heavens, so I can withstand the shock.Some of the others, however…”

Alice thought of her own disciple, Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One.She couldn’t argue that the commander’s logic wasn’t sound.She nodded her head and got to her feet.Then, she gave the knights’ salute.

“I will follow whatever course of action you believe to be best, Uncle.”

“Well, I can’t ask for more than that, now can I?”He smiled at her.“I guess that means we now have to round everyone up.Let’s reconvene on the fiftieth floor.”He turned his attention to Eugeo, who was still sitting on the floor.“C’mon, Kid.We’re burning daylight.Time to get a move on.”

“…I think one of you is going to have to help me…I’ve been trying throughout our entire conversation, but I just can’t seem to do it.”

Alice curiously cocked her head to one side.“Can’t seem to do what?”

Eugeo locked his anxiety filled eyes onto hers.

“…I can’t seem to move my legs.”

Even then, Eugeo hadn’t lost his optimistic—if naive—spirit from before.That was how Alice categorized her life now: before the truth and after Kirito’s death.

The two of them had stayed at the cathedral for two weeks following that battle.Eugeo had been bedridden the entire time, but everyday she went to see him, the smile never dropped from his face.Though that had more to do with his denial than her presence.

Everyday he would ask her during their visits, “Do you think he’ll come back today?He did say it would take him a little while…maybe a few more days then?”

And everyday Alice’s heart broke a little more for the innocently sincere swordsman.She knew that there was absolutely no way for the reckless hero to return.And all she could do was offer the wide-eyed man a non-response, “No.I don’t think he’ll be back today.”She didn’t have the emotional fortitude to say anything else.

It was at the end of the two weeks that Alice began to hear the whispers.

_What was Commander Bercouli thinking?The surviving criminal should be put to death for his crimes against the church.The fact that he lost his ability to even stand is proof enough that the goddess Stacia wants retribution._

Alice knew that this place, which had been the only home she knew for so long, was no longer safe…for either of them.She was en route to her daily meeting with Eugeo when the idea started forming, but before she could even bring it up, Eugeo voiced his own thoughts.

“We should go home.To Rulid Village.”

“Why the sudden interest in leaving?”

Alice knew her reasons, but she wanted to know his.And for the first time, he leveled her with a completely serious look.

“Alice.I lost the use of my legs, not my eyes.I see the way the girls who bring my meals look at me.I can hear people talking in the hallway, too.I need to leave.”Perhaps he was not as naive as she had previously assumed.“The reason I extended the invitation to you was because Kirito mentioned it before he, well, you know.”

They both bowed their heads briefly before he continued.

“He said you two had made a deal…involving Selka?”

Alice involuntarily took a sharp breath.She warily looked at him with her one good eye, trying to decide how much he knew.

“And did he happen to mention what would happen after I saw her?”

“He said that was for you and I to decide together.That’s all.”

Alice let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding, relieved.Or, at least, she thought she was relieved.That was the beginning of the tense lump in her stomach.

“Very well.I will make the preparations for our journey.I’d like to leave tonight if that is alright with you?”

“Of course.”He smiled at her.It would be one of his last ones.She had hoped that by returning to their families it would allow him to stop fixating on Kirito’s supposed impending revival, but—“Besides, since Kirito told us to go there, that will probably be where he will look for us first!”

He smiled even wider.Alice’s heart cracked a little bit more.

They took to the air in the dead of night without even a whisper to anyone that they were leaving or where they had planned on going.From the back of a dragon they watched as Solus dawned over the horizon.They landed in the forest to the south of Rulid in the still early morning.With an affectionate pet to the dragon’s snout, Alice instructed Amayori to watch their bags and other items as she hoisted Eugeo onto her back and started her trek north towards the village proper.

They kept a decent pace as they wound their way through the lonely emerald barley fields, unencumbered by the weight of divine weapons and armor—at the moment sitting safely with Amayori.Alice and Eugeo had both agreed there would be fewer unanswerable questions that way.If the Integrity Knights themselves were determined unable to handle the truth of the Central Cathedral, then what hope would the citizens of their tiny provincial village have?

Alice slowed to a stop as the two started to pass a gigantic black tree stump that must have been at least four mels wide.A feeling of nostalgia crashed over her in a wave so strong she felt the physical need to inhale.

“It was called the Gigas Cedar.”

Alice turned her head left to peer over her shoulder at the flaxen haired young man.Eugeo moved his gaze away from the stump to look at Alice with a gentle smile.

“The tree stump.It was originally a towering giant called the Gigas Ceder, though the locals had a different name for it.For 300 years some poor soul in the village was given the calling of hacking away at it.”

“And I take it _you_ were that poor soul?”

A chuckle slipped through his lips, and the smile grew wider with mirth.His focus locked back onto the tree—what was left of it anyway.“Yeah, that’s right.Or, at least, I was.That’s when Kirito showed up.He came waltzing out of the forest with this dumb struck look on his face.It was actually his idea to try felling it with something other than the ax.”

“Oh, really?Then what did you use?”

His gaze locked onto her own.While the mirth was still there, something else was too.It was deep and searching, begging her to know things still locked away in her head.Alice felt a strong thump in her breast.Like with the nostalgia, her body couldn’t help but unleash a physical reaction.This time she swallowed.And with what was almost a murmur Eugeo responded, “Can’t you guess?”

Suddenly, in her mind’s eye she saw a flash of blue accompanied by the faintest scent of roses.

“…The Blue Rose Sword?”

A pleased grin stretched across his face, and with a slight nod to his head he said, “That’s right.”

Alice quickly swerved her head to face forward again.She could feel an unfamiliar warmth on her cheeks, and she wasn’t sure if she altogether disliked it.For years Alice had been the strong one.As a knight she had stood tall and imposing.She couldn’t recall a time she had ever felt so much like a… _girl_.

As she continued walking forward she did everything in her power not to consciously think about his arms ever so casually draped over her shoulders or about the heat of his chest seeping into her back.And she most certainly was _not_ comparing the color of his eyes to the stalks of barley surrounding them as it swayed in the pleasant breeze of late spring wind.Absolutely not.

She had managed to calm herself by the time she crossed a stone bridge leading into the southern gate of the village.She had just passed a stone structure she assumed to be a guard’s post when the door to said structure flew open and a boy slightly taller than Eugeo came running out only to start yelling at the duo.

“Hold on, you!Strangers aren’t allowed in unless I say so!”

“Hey, Zink.”

Alice heard the mystery boy gasp at Eugeo’s greeting, and turned to get a good look at him for herself.

“What in the—?By the Gods.It can’t be.”

Standing before them was actually not a boy, but a young man with sandy brown hair.His mouth was hanging open and he stared at them with wide disbelieving eyes.Alice could not blame him for his lack of composure.She had been gone for eight years, and Eugeo for two.Now, both of them had returned.Alice was clearly missing her right eye and Eugeo was slung across her back, unable to walk.And yet, both dressed in clothing made of the softest blue wool with fine white silk detailing.In other words: expensive.

“We are no strangers.He is Eugeo and I am Alice.Summon Gasfut Zuberg at once.”

Zink’s spine involuntarily straightened at the authoritarian tone.He fingers clenched the scabbard of the simple short sword he held in his hand and ran past them into the village.Alice slowly followed after him.As he ran away, she couldn’t help but notice his form and compare it to the likes of Eugeo and Kirito.

This guardsman, Zink, was incredibly scrawny.That was why she had initially confused him for a boy instead of a man.Eugeo on the other hand was well toned in his chest and arms.And while Alice hadn’t had the chance to see Kirito in a form fitting undershirt like she had with Eugeo over the passed two weeks, she could only assume he had been the same.These forms sculpted from hours of dedicated and disciplined training.It was clear Zink had no such aspirations.

“You can stop here.Just rest me on the edge of the fountain, would you?”

Alice snapped her attention back to Eugeo.It took her a moment to process what it was he had said.

“What?Oh, yes!Of course.”

She then gently lowered his feet to the ground before helping him to sit on the lip of the stone fountain located in the center square of town.The bells in the church—also located in the square—chimed the hour: 9:00.The few people who had already been about had stopped to stare at the two blondes, and many more people quickly started to join, most likely on their way to work.It didn’t take very long for the entire town to be surrounding the two of them.

“You want to know something funny?”

Alice looked back down at Eugeo to see that he was gazing off into the distance, looking at everything and nothing.His stance was casual.His arms were resting in his lap, fingers loosely clasped between his slightly spread thighs.When she didn’t immediately respond he glanced back at her.She raised an eyebrow at him and was gifted a small wry smile.

“This place might as well have been the whole world when I was a kid, but now…it looks so small.”

He peered back into the crowd and suddenly sat up as straight as his seated position allowed.When Alice whirled her head to see what had gotten his attention, a older man who looked to be in his forties stepped out of the crowd with a glower on his face.He was staring directly at her.She heard him huff before striding over to them, his hands balled into fists.

“Is that really you…Alice?”

She took a deep breath and replied with a resounding, “Yes.”

“Well, then, what are you doing here?Have you been pardoned for your crime?”

“Perhaps.I certainly was punished for it.All the memories I had of my life here were wiped away.If that is not enough to absolve me, no one said otherwise.Regardless, I have returned because I could think of nowhere else to go.”

While the words she spoke were not innately lies, they were not complete truths either.The man she could only guess was Gasfut Zuberg—her _father_ —gave a slight nod before shifting his focus to Eugeo.

“And Eugeo, son of Orick, you have returned.Am I to assume this means you have completed your second calling of becoming a swordsman?”

“I’m afraid not.I was accepted to the Norlangarth Sword-craft Academy on a recommendation from my former commanding officer of the Zakkaria Garrison, and in my second year was given the title of Elite-disciple; a prestigious honor given to only the students who ranked in the top ten of the class.Unfortunately, I got into a…disagreement with another student and was…expelled from the school.Another, if indirect, result of that disagreement is that I have lost all use of my legs.I am no longer able to complete any calling.Like Alice, I don’t know if I have been pardoned for my sins, but I most definitely have been punished for them.”

Like Alice, Eugeo had danced around the truth.She wondered, briefly, if he had been missing a right eye once upon a time, too.Gasfut gave a deep sigh before peeking around at the gathered crowd and landing his eyes on the front windows of the church.Alice looked over, too.Several children were watching the scene unfold from inside the building.Alice wondered if one of them was Selka.

“Be gone.”

Alice snapped her head back to her father and gasped, startled.Eugeo gave an exclamation in protest causing Gasfut to lift his hand to silence the young man.

“We _cannot_ allow criminals to stay here.”

Without another word, he spun on his heel and left without a single glance back.Alice was stunned.She glimpsed around the crowd seeing only scowls before seeing two middle aged women gripping each other’s hands with silent tears running down their faces.

“Alice.We should go.”

Eugeo was also looking around the crowd, this time in trepidation.She helped him to his feet before lifting him back onto her back.The people in the square parted for them like the curtains on her bed posts in the cathedral as they made their way back south to Amayori.They didn’t speak this time.Not until they passed the black stump again.

“I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised.After all, the village council’s first reaction to the demon tree being felled wasn’t celebration.They wanted to punish me and Kirito for chopping it down 900 years _too early_.”

Alice stopped walking.

“You cannot be serious.”

“I wish I wasn’t.”

After that, the first month had been…interesting to say the least.Camping in the woods was not something either of them had anticipated.Luckily, it was still early summer, which meant only clear skies day and night.It also meant that there was no shortage of Terraria’s blessings to be found in the forests surrounding Rulid Village.

Three days after the confrontation in the square, Alice—with Eugeo on her back—had hiked to a clearing in the middle of the woods.It was filled with wild flowers and soft green grass.If there were a better place to perform a healing, she could not think of one.She summoned ten luminous elements with the vast spacial resources available and applied them to Eugeo’s body as treatment.

The healing art used Alice’s entire being and soul to produce, and it was powerful enough to heal not just a human, but the <<Life>> of a massive dragon all the way to full in a single instant.No matter how damaged Eugeo’s legs were, his ability to walk would be immediately restored, and he would once again be the portrait of perfect health.

Once the light of the sacred arts had dissipated, Alice turned to Eugeo expectantly.

“Well?How does it feel?”

He stared at his legs for a moment before responding, “Hmm…At least I _can_ feel them again, but…I still can’t seem to move them.”

That had been the final nail in the coffin.Too many tragic and horrible things had happened too close together, and Eugeo’s usually optimistic disposition was gone.After that day Eugeo always had a dark cloud hanging over him.He would barely even look at Alice, let alone speak to her.She couldn’t really blame him, either.

She had failed him.This man had lost both of his best friends and was forced to watch this interloper parade around in the body of one of them.He had been cast out of his village because of her, and the one thing she _should_ have been able to do for him was beyond her means.After all, she was just a product of Administrator.

Alice knew from speaking to Kirito that Eugeo had always been a spot of bright light on his darkest days since awakening outside of Rulid.And as she witnessed Eugeo spiraling into a darker more troubled mood, she decided that it was her duty to do the same for him.She would be a spot of sunshine attempting to penetrate his dark cloud.She would be a light in the darkness.She would be cheerful enough for the both of them.

And only on the day he returned to his normal self would she finally stop and analyze her own thoughts and feelings.

-WoU-

“Alice!”

Alice was pulled from her revery by the call of someone outside.She didn’t even need to check to know who it was.This visitor came to see the two of them nearly every day.Alice strode to the front door of the cabin and opened it with a brilliant smile.She waved at the individual running down the path past their garden.

“Selka!”

She turned back inside, leaving the door open behind.As she walked back towards the kitchen to finish packing their lunch she glanced at Eugeo from the corner of her eye.He was sitting up straighter in his wheelchair and looking expectantly towards the door.This was hardly surprising, as it seemed the only person still in his good graces was the young sister in training.

Selka quickly skipped over the threshold with a distracted wave of her hand in the young man’s direction and a brief “Hello, Eugeo!” thrown over her shoulder as she bounded into the tiny kitchen and hugged her older sister from behind.The impact affected Selka more than it did Alice as the action was something akin to tackling a tree in the forest, but this greeting had become routine over the months.Something that secretly pleased Alice to no end.

“What are you doing,” Selka asked as she peered over Alice’s shoulder.

“Eugeo and I were going to have a picnic since the weather is so nice.Would you like to join us?”

There was a teasing lilt to Alice’s voice.Selka squeezed her middle even tighter.

“Yes!Of course I want to come, but…is there enough?I don’t want to be taking food away from you two.”

Alice unwrapped the arms from around her waist so that she could turn and look at her sister.At the sight of Selka’s crestfallen face she placed her hands on the young girl’s shoulders and smiled at her.Before she could reassure her a voice called from the other side of the room, “Of course there’s enough.Besides, we want you there.Nothing would make us happier.”

There was still no smile on Eugeo’s face as he said it, but at least there wasn’t a scowl either.Or worse, disinterest.And these days, when it came to dealing with Eugeo and his moods, Alice would take the win where she could find it.She turned Selka’s chin to face her once more.

“You see?It’s fine.Now, if you could, please, fetch a blanket out of the cupboard and put it in the basket, I would appreciate it.And while you’re doing that I will help Eugeo with his coat.”

“Okay!”

While the Zuberg sisters moved to complete their respective tasks, Eugeo mumbled from his chair about not being a _complete_ invalid.

Once Alice finished wrapping the scarf around Eugeo’s neck she gave a self satisfied sigh.

“There!Now, let’s get going!”

She moved to the back of his chair where two handles were located that made it easier for her to push.The wheelchair had been constructed by a man known as Old Man Garitta.He was the previous “poor soul” selected to chop away at the Gigas Cedar.When the torch—or axe as the case may be—was passed to Eugeo, Old Man Garitta was the one to teach him everything, from how to swing the axe to maintenance of the tool.

He was a kind man who had not scorned the duo when they had been shunned from the village.In fact, he was the one who had helped Alice to build her and Eugeo’s little forest house in the very clearing where they had snuck off to play many times as children.

Selka had already run out the door with the basket she had insisted on carrying.As Alice was about to push Eugeo through that same door he placed his hands on the wheels and spat out a single word.

“Wait.”

He moved his right hand to point to the three swords displayed on the wall next to the door.Alice very quickly realized what it was he wanted.It was the only thing he ever asked for.

“Oh, I’m sorry.I’ll get it.”

She quickly moved to take the black one off the wall and hand it to Eugeo.It leaned against his left shoulder as he cradled it in his arm.She clasped her hands behind her and in an impish voice said, “You know, when Kirito asked you to take care of his sword, I do not think he meant for you to never let it out of your sight.”She chuckled and softened her teasing with a smile.

“How would you know?You only spent twelve hours with him, and, from what you’ve told me, you were unconscious for a good portion of that.”

The smile slid off her face and her shoulders drooped.That familiar pain in her chest pulsed pointedly and the resentment that she was usually able to keep down flared up.

“Well, what about your own partner?You shouldn’t neglect it like this.When was the last time you removed it from its sheath and gave it a good polish?”

“It’s broken in half.What can I possibly do for it now?And besides, I could ask you the same question.”

He looked up towards her face with a glare.He never actually looked _at_ her.It was always passed or _through_ her.Those times always twinged more than when he simply ignored her altogether.And even worse, he was right.She hadn’t touched the Osmanthus Blade since it had been placed on the wall several months ago.She stared at her hands as she reached forward to adjust his scarf one last time.

“…Be careful with it, now.Hold it tight.”

As the trio made their way down the path—Selka dancing ahead, admiring the leaves as the breeze pulled them from the trees—Alice couldn’t help but notice Eugeo shifting in his seat with discomfort.

“Eugeo, are you warm enough?”

While grumbling under his breath, Selka turned back to the pair with a laugh.

“Sister, you can be such a worry wart!Look at how much you bundled him up; he’s practically sweating!I’m sure he’s fine.”Then, she looked back up at the leaves and continued quietly, almost to herself, “I know Kirito thinks so.”

But they heard her.Neither one responded as they continued to down the path.Eventually the woods opened up to reveal two twin lakes.Beyond were trees the color of Deusolbert’s flames and the End Mountains shining silver under the late autumn sun.

“How beautiful.None of the paintings in the cathedral can compare with this view.”

After Selka and Alice lifted Eugeo from his chair and helped into a comfortable lounging position on the quilt, Alice proceeded to empty the woven basket of its contents.Once everything was laid out before the trio Selka led a quick prayer in thanks to the goddess Stacia.As she reached to grab one of the sandwiches closest to her two hands reached out to stop her, followed by a simultaneous “Not yet!”.

Alice looked up at Eugeo with a small smile on her face, hoping to share a giggle with him, but he snapped his head back down before any real eye contact could be made.With a heavy sigh, Alice opened the Stacia Windows on all the food items, dictating the order in which they needed to be eaten before their <<Life>> expired.As far back as she could remember, Alice had always checked the <<Life>> of the food.It had surprised her that Eugeo did as well.

“Sister, these potato croquets are delicious!Definitely an improvement from just a few months ago.”

“Do you really think so?”

The truth was that at the Central Cathedral Alice never had to cook her own meals.All she ever had to do was take a small walk to the dining hall designated to the integrity knights and sit down at any of the banquet tables laden with rich delicious foods.When, suddenly, she and Eugeo found themselves homeless there had been many times in the first month when one of them had developed stomach pains from undercooked food.This had led her to burning everything, which did little to aid in the quest to change Eugeo’s sour moods for the better.

Once Selka had discovered this unfortunate daily occurrence she quickly ran to their mother, Sadina Zuberg, begging her for help.And by some miracle the woman had agreed.A couple times a week Selka would arrive with her own basket carrying a meal.Along with the meal came a simple recipe written on a slip of simple thread grass paper.The only downside was that Alice had to memorize it immediately as the <<Life>> of the paper lasted only a week.Hence why it had taken her months to get to the most base level of acceptable—showcased at their little picnic.Alice gave a heavy sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Selka asked.

“It is nothing.”Alice looked down and noticed that all the food was gone.Well, maybe she _was_ improving?“Shall we start heading back?”

Selka looked between her sister and Eugeo.Both staring at the blanket, one more sullenly than the other.

“…Sure.”

They gathered up the dirty cutlery and plates in silence and began the trek back to their tiny home.As they got closer and closer to the fork that split off towards town, Selka moved slower and slower.She was wringing her hands to the point that her knuckles were white, and she was biting her lip so hard that Alice was afraid it would start to bleed.

“What is it, Selka?Something troubles you.”

It was actually Eugeo who voiced his concern first.Alice looked down at him and noticed the furrow between his brows.Couldn’t help but look at the slight purse of his lips.That was a new expression on his face, worry.They had stopped at the fork.To the right was town and… _people_ , to the left was home.

“W-well…it’s nothing serious.It’s Mr. Barbossa.He asked if you could chop down another tree for him.”

Alice felt the tension release from her shoulders as she smiled indulgently at her sister.

“Honestly, that’s why you’re so quiet?You do know he and I have an agreement?”

“Yes, but,” Selka suddenly looked up at her older sister with a look that rivaled that of Eugeo’s.With squared shoulders and a fierce voice she continued, “How dare he?!The hypocrite!Both him _and_ Mr. Riddick.They don’t hesitate to ask you for help when _they_ need it, but they don’t mind you being shunned by the village.”

Alice was stunned.She had never heard such an impassioned speech from her younger sibling.She knew that Eugeo held similar feelings towards the villagers, but he always tried to keep such comments to himself when Selka was around.Had she picked up on it anyway?Was she being influenced by his moods more than Alice thought?

No.Selka was her own person.A fact she took pride in.It was something Kirito had said to her on the last night she saw him. _You’re still amazing.What other girl here could walk into that dark cave all by herself?I mean, that’s something only you could do.You’re you, not Alice’s replacement.And you have skills no one else here has._ With that in mind Alice rounded the chair and took Selka’s hands in her own.

“It’s alright, Selka.As long as—“

“As long as we have a place on the outskirts that’s enough for us.”

Alice peaked over her shoulder at the unusual warmth in Eugeo’s tone.To her surprise, there was warmth in his eyes, too.Still no smile, but a vast improvement none the less.Selka pulled on Alice’s hands to regain her attention.

“Yes, but next year my training will be done and I was thinking…since I’ll be earning a little money that I could give you that.It’s not much, but it’s enough that you won’t have to help _those_ people anymore.You and Eugeo don’t have to worry.I’ll help…somehow.”

Alice was overcome with affection.She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Selka, resting her cheek on the young girl’s head.

“I am grateful.But having you close by is all I could ever need.I am happy just to have that.”

“I may be all you _need_ , but don’t you _want_ to be treated better?Surely, you must want something?”

Alice didn’t even have to think it over.It was something that had lain deep in her heart since first seeing Selka.

“What I want…what I want more than anything is to have my memories of this place back.My memories of you, our parents, and Eugeo.”Alice slowly released the hug and place her hands on Selka’s rounded cheeks.“What I wouldn’t give for that.Alas, it is something that shall never come to be, so it is best to be grateful for the life we do have.Yes?”

“I guess so,” Selka replied sullenly.

Eugeo cleared his throat behind them.“Selka, why don’t you head back to the church.Alice and I will go speak to Mr. Barbossa.”

She responded with a quiet “Okay.” before rushing over to give Eugeo a hug as well.The iron knot twisted in on itself again.Alice folded her arms over her chest as Eugeo returned the hug.

“One last thing,” he whispered to her.“It takes much more bravery to be kind than not.I hope you never stop being brave.”

Selka abruptly broke away and began running down the right path.After crossing about ten mels she turned and waved her hand above her head calling out, “Thank you for lunch sister…big brother!”Then, she was gone before either of them could respond.Alice moved back behind Eugeo’s chair placing her hands on the handles.

“Well, shall I take you back to the house?”

“…No.I told her that we would see him together.Let’s go now and get it over with.”

-WoU-

An enormous oak, a good mel and a half across, stood thoroughly rooted in place, resisting the woodcutters’ efforts.Two men were trading strikes from either side of the cut, which was less than ten cens in depth.Sweat was pouring off the shirtless men like waterfalls.The muscles of their chest arms were thick, but it was clear from the inconsistency of their swinging that they did not have regular experience with an axe.

As Alice watched from a distance, one of the men’s feet slid a bit, and the blade hit diagonally.The handle of the axe broke about halfway up, and he fell hard on his backside to uproarious laughter from the others in his vicinity.She thought she heard Eugeo scoff as well, but it was drowned out by the shouting of Nigel Barbossa.

“Why is this taking so long?!In the time it’ll take you to cut this damn tree down Riddick’s men will have expanded his land twenty mels in every direction!”

Nigel Barbossa was the richest man in the village, which meant he was also the cheapest.His clothes were too small for his portly torso.Only two buttons were actually fastened on his worn velvet vest, almost as if the others had popped off from being stretched over his large stomach too many times.He was also bald with grey scratchy stubble on his cheeks and neck.If there was an up side to living out in the woods, it was the fact the it meant neither Alice nor Eugeo had to deal with this man very often.

The first to notice the approaching pair were the youngsters of the Barbossa clan, who were resting atop the stumps of newly felled trees.The trio appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old and gazed greedily at Alice with her golden hair and scarf, then glanced at Eugeo in the wheelchair.They muttered to one another and snickered.After she passed without paying them any heed, one of the youths lazily called out, “Uncle, she’s heeeere.”

He turned away from his tired workers to face Alice, plastering the most obviously fake smile on his face she had ever seen.

“Alice!How good of you to come!And so quickly, too!”

“We heard that you needed her assistance.”

Nigel looked down at Eugeo like he was sucking on a sour lemon.He didn’t like when she brought Eugeo.He thought he was above both of them, the criminals.Because of this Nigel always tried to take advantage of them, but Eugeo was too shrewd.He had been in charge of the purse strings when he and Kirito had been traveling and living together.Apparently, the black haired boy had a habit of being a bit irresponsible with money.

Eugeo had continued being the household accountant when he and Alice moved in together.She didn’t argue the decision.After all, the first time she had walked into the local bakery the only thing that had stopped her from buying absolutely everything they had was Eugeo’s adamant refusal.With him carefully counting the coin, Alice was always paid fairly for her work.

“Yes.It’s that one over there.We’ve been hacking away at it since yesterday morning.These damn platinum oak trees are tough, though.Why ten grown men have put their backs into every swing.And they’ve barely made a scratch in it.So I asked for you.I know our deal is for one tree a month, but this one’s stubborn and I really need your help here, Alice.What do you say.”

The man who had broken the axe was still laying on his back in the dirt.She didn’t blame him for being tired.Platinum oak is what the wooden swords of Eugeo’s training academy had been made of because of its durability.It would take an experienced woodcutter a full day to fell one, and these men were not experienced woodcutters.

“I will do it.And happily.But just this once.Understand?”

“Great!I knew I could count on you.Now, you may not remember that on several occasions when you were young, I reluc—er, _generously_ gave you sweets to enjoy.You were such a sweet young girl back then.Er, as you still are now, of course…”

Alice resisted rolling her eye as Eugeo loudly cleared his throat, cutting the older man off.Nigel scowled at Eugeo as Alice strode toward the problem tree.When the men spotted her, they leered and made a show of clicking their tongues in irritation.They were all aware of her strength by now, however, so they moved away from the tree.

She took their place and drew a quick sigil of sacred script with her right hand, bringing up a Stacia Window.The tree’s life value was tremendous.Its priority level was too high for her to borrow their axes this time.Instead she trotted back to the wheelchair, crouched, and whispered, “I’m sorry, Eugeo.I need to borrow that sword for a moment.”

As she reached to brush the black leather scabbard with her hand, Eugeo instinctively pulled it further away from her.She looked up at his face to see him glaring passed her again.And after a moment’s deliberation he spat out a harsh, “Fine.”He looked down to the ground on his left as his right hand held out the sheathed sword in front of him.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she gingerly, almost reverently, lifted it into her own hands.This was Kirito’s sword.She would handle it with as much care and respect as Eugeo did.Once she was sure he would be fine without in, she returned to the oak tree.

It really was a beautiful specimen.Not quite as grand as the ancient trees scattered around Centoria, perhaps, but easily more than a century old.Mentally, she apologized to the tree, then took a stance.She placed her right foot forward with her left in the rear.She held the black one in her left hand and placed her right hand on its leather-wrapped grip.With her one good eye she gauged her distance to the tree.

One of Nigel’s nephews yelled from his tree stump, “Come on!You think you’re going to cut down a platinum oak with a little old sword?!”

Another shouted, “It’ll snap in half!” prompting a gale of laughter from all the men.

Eventually, Nigel said, with great consternation, “Um, Alice?It would be appreciated if you could complete the task within the hour.”

She’d cut down over ten trees since she’d started her job, and they always took no more than thirty minutes.And the was only because she had to carefully limit her strength so as not to destroy the axes they gave her to use.This time, however, there was no need.Kirito’s black sword was a divine object with the same priority level as her own Osmanthus Blade.

She took in a deep breath, bent her knees, and lunged forward with a loud cry—a habit formed from many hours spent in the training hall.There was an explosion of dust and dirt as a perfectly level slash shot forward from the sheath like black lightning.Though, apparently, no one else saw it.

The man who had broken the axe earlier called out, “Look at that.She missed!”

But before the laughter could start up again, another voice leisurely responded, “Well, that brings back memories.”

Everyone turned to look at the flaxen haired man, quite honestly, lounging in the wheelchair.He turned his disinterested gaze to the man who had heckled her.

“I would move away from there if I were you.It’s going to fall that direction.”

“What?Why should we—?”

Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound as the tree gave way and started falling in the exact direction Eugeo had indicated, right where the man was standing.After giving a very unmanly scream, the man scrambled to get out of the way, tripping once or twice in the process.There was a thunderous sound as the tree collided with the earth, then silence.All the workers stood with their mouths agape, disbelieving of what they had just witnessed.Of course it was Nigel Barbossa who broke the spell first.

“Oh…Splendid, wonderful.Magnificent!Your skill is unbelievable.No, exceptional!”He greedily started rubbing his grubby hands together.“Now, hear me out.I shall increase your compensation by thirty, no, forty percent, and instead of once a month you’d work for me once a week.No! Once a day!I know you could use the money.”

This man was unbelievable.While everyone in the village was well aware of their financial situation, he was the first to actually say it.Alice had to physically bite her tongue to keep from spewing poisonous words.As much as she disliked the man, he did pay her well.

“Thank you.But the amount you are paying now is quite sufficient.”

Nigel ground his teeth together and made a growling sound in the back of his throat.When Alice held her hand out in front of her, he looked like he was ready to explode.Alice spoke before it could get that far.

“Excuse me…my payment?”

Seeming to remember that they were in the middle of a business transaction, Nigel quickly composed himself.And pulled a heavy looking pouch from his side. _What a fool_ , Alice thought.She hoped he lost that sack on his way home that night.

“Oh, of course.Yes, right away.”

He pulled three silver coins from the purse, and, with a look of deep regret, dropped them into Alice’s waiting palm.

“Thank you, Mr. Barbossa.We’ll just be—“

There was a large crashing sound from behind her.She spun to see what had happened only to find the wheelchair knocked sideways and Eugeo on the ground.Above him stood the three nephews with slimy grins on their faces.

“Eugeo!”

As he struggled to push himself up onto his arms, the tallest and skinniest of the nephews planted a foot in the center of his back and forced him back into the dirt.Alice was at his side in a literal blink of an eye.She pushed the boy’s foot from Eugeo causing him to fall back on his tailbone.Alice dropped the sword to the ground and helped Eugeo to a sitting position.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

She turned her outrage to the three youths who had started to turn away.

“What the hell were you doing?He could have been hurt!”

The tall one she had knocked over grimaced in disgust.

“Oh, please.It’s only against the law to decrease someone’s <<Life>> and we clearly didn’t do that.Besides, he owes us an apology.Acting so high and mighty when he’s lower than scum.”

“Excuse me?!”

Another nephew, this one short and plump, like his uncle, chimed in, “He’s a criminal.He deserves it!”

Alice stared on, flabbergasted.These people were no better than the haughty nobles in the capitol.She wondered at how superior they would act if they knew they had just attacked a pair of integrity knights.

“Forget them.I told you, I’m fine.”

Alice turned her attention back to Eugeo, only to find him staring at his lap.She smiled warmly at him.

“Here.Let me help you up.Then we can go home and pretend this never happened, okay?”

“…Yeah, okay.”

And so she did.She righted his chair, a little further ways away from the teenage boys than before.Then, she guided Eugeo to sit in it.She brushed the dirt off his coat, adjusted his scarf, and turned to pick up the sword when—

“What the—?It’s so heavy!”

“Well, yeah!How else do you think she cut that tree down? _Anyone_ could with that sword.”

“Let me try!”

She looked up to see Barbossa’s nephew’s holding Kirito’s sword.The plump one was grunting in exertion attempting to remove it from the scabbard.Alice saw red.If there was one line you did not cross when it came to Alice and Eugeo, it was disrespecting Kirito.The untold hero.

“That sword belongs to Kiri—I mean, it belongs to us.Get your hands off it!”

“W-well, if you didn’t want us touching it, then you shouldn’t have just left it on the ground!”

“Yeah!What he said!AHH!!”

Alice had launched herself at them and wrapped her hands around the sword.She forced herself to keep both hand tight around the sheath—if she didn’t, she would grab the hilt of the sword instead.

Half a year ago, she would have cut off all six arms that dared to touch the sword without a moment’s hesitation.An integrity knight was not bound by the Taboo Index and its rules against harming others.As a matter of fact, without the seal in her right eye to bind her, there was no law at all that limited Alice’s behavior.

But…

Alice clenched her teeth painfully, fighting against her urges.These young men were the common folk Kirito and Eugeo had sacrificed their lives to protect.She couldn’t harm them.It wasn’t what _they_ would have wanted.

She stayed absolutely still and silent for several seconds, but she didn’t do a very good job of hiding the fury that blazed in her remaining eye.The three boys had stopped laughing.Their sneers replaced by fearful looks.

“F-fine!Take it.It’s just a stupid sword.”

As they stomped off she continued to glare at the little trolls.She removed the yellow linen scarf from around her head and proceeded to use it to dust off the black sword.

“Alice,”Eugeo called, glaring at the now felled oak tree.

Wait.

Alice knew his glares.She knew every aspect of his face.This one was different.Why?She took in his white knuckles gripping the arms of the chair, the obvious tension in his shoulders, and his heavy breathing through his nose.Some intuition in the back of her mind prompted her to more closely inspect exactly _what_ he was glaring _at_.Her head swiveled towards the downed tree, following his eye line.Still in the grass, completely forgotten, was the head of the broken axe.

It was _shaking_.

Alice thought back all those months ago, to the ninety-ninth floor, when Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-Two had used <<Incarnate Arms>> to remove the Blue Rose Sword from Kirito’s belt.She thought that it had been his piety module that had given him that power, but that clearly was not the case.Though, he did appear to be struggling to use it now.

No.That wasn’t right either.He was struggling _not_ to use it.Holding himself back so that he wouldn’t do something he’d regret later.Meaning he had perfect control over it.How had she not noticed something like this before now?

“Alice,” he called even louder this time.“Can we _please_ go?!”

“Of course.Sorry.”

After briskly closing the distance between them, she began pushing the chair back towards town.She absentmindedly glanced up at the men still surrounding the tree.Mr. Barbossa was back to shouting orders, some ignored her, but the few who were lookingheld so much hatred in their gazes that she immediately turned her head away.

“…Do you mind if we stop by the store in town?Since we just got paid?”

Is this what they had fought for?Suffered for?To protect people like these?Kirito lost his life, Eugeo his heart, and Alice…If there was a point to all they had been through, then it was lost to her.

-WoU-

Alice had just finished putting away the dinner dishes and was going to draw herself a bath when Amayori started crooning from the front of the cabin.Eugeo looked up from the book he was reading next to the wood stove, his brows furrowed as he turned to the front door.

“I’m going to go look.I’ll be right back.”

Alice grabbed a shall from the back of her rocking chair, wrapping it around herself as she stepped outside.The dragon was on its hind legs, looking to the sky.Alice turned her face upwards to the sky as well and caught sight of a small sparkle coming towards them.

“Is that?”… _Takegeri.Amayori’s older brother.Which means…_

As the blue dragon landed next to its sibling a figure jumped down from its back.A knight clad in silver, with a whip coiled on his right hip.

“I’m impressed you found us.Now why have you come, Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One?”

Eldrie just smiled.Then, he placed a hand over his heart and gave an over the top bow.

“It has been far too long, my lady mentor.While you are dressed differently than I remember, your beauty still amazes me.The thought of my mentor’s golden hair gleaming in the moonlight was so captivating, I could not help but pay you a visit with an excellent vintage from the collection.”

So evidently his personality had not improved during the last six months.Wonderful.

His left hand emerged from behind his back to reveal a wine bottle.Alice did her best not to sigh.She turned her back to her disciple and started back for the front door of the house.

“Erm, Alice…?”

“If you have something important to say, I’ll hear you out inside.If not, then you may drink your wine alone and return to the city.Though, if you do come inside, you better play nice.”

Eldrie followed her obediently inside and looked around the interior in wonder before his eyes stopped on Eugeo, who was sitting motionless by the heater.He made no comment on the rebel who had once crossed weapons with him.Eugeo was not so cordial.

“What the hell is _he_ doing here?!”

“He wanted to talk to me.Just go back to your book, and we will pretend for the next ten minutes that the kitchen and living area are actually separate rooms.”

Eldrie rounded the table and pulled out a chair for her.She ignored him and moved to the kitchen to plate two slices of the leftover cake from dinner.Eldrie sat himself down in the chair he had pulled out for her and placed the wine bottle on the table.His expression lit up when she placed the cake down in front of him.

“This looks wonderful, Lady Alice.Incidentally, I was in a hurry, so I haven’t eaten dinner yet.”

“How is that ‘incidental’?And who would fly from Centoria to the distant mountains bearing wine but taking no travel rations along?”

“I swore to the holy trinity that I would never eat that limp, tasteless mush again.I’d rather starve and let my life drain away than survive on such—“

Alice cut him off by slamming a knife and fork onto the table next his plate.She walked to the other side of the table and set down her own fork and knife before settling into the chair, her back to Eugeo.

“Well, eat up.It won’t last much longer.”

“…Forgive my impertinence in asking, but…did you make this yourself…?”

“Yes, I did.Why do you ask?”

“…No reason.To eat my sword master’s home cooking is a greater honor and joy than learning the secret ways of my weapon,” he said nervously before grabbing the fork and shoveling a bite into his mouth.She could tell after a few seconds of chewing that he was doing his best not to grimace.“…It’s delicious…”

Eugeo’s sudden coughing fit behind her sounded suspiciously like laughter, but the thought of him laughing at _anything_ took the sting out of what it implied.

“So, how did you find me?More importantly, why?I am sure the order has better things to do now than send dragons all over just to track me down.”

“You won’t believe this, but I simply followed the bond between our souls.Ha!If only that were true.”He created two crystal elements in the form of goblets and poured a generous helping of wine into each one.“No, I found you by complete coincidence.Although, now that I am here, I have news.”He leveled a pointed stare at her before continuing, “The goblins and orcs have been mobilizing in the north.”

Alice let out an involuntary gasp.She could tell that Eugeo had stopped breathing altogether.She heard a small creak in his chair as he leaned closer to them.Eldrie continued.

“As for _why_ I am here, the commander ordered us to collapse the caves in the south, west, and here in the north.I was sent to make sure the _fiends_ hadn’t dug them out.”

“And,” Eugeo quickly exclaimed, “Is the cave north of here safe?Or have they dug through it?”

Eldrie ground his teeth together in irritation before responding, “I spent all day up there, keeping a vigilant eye on it.In all that time I did not spot any orcs or goblins.I am happy to report the cave is still filled with debris.”

Alice and Eugeo let out audible sighs of relief.

“Then, as I was making my way back to the capitol, Takegeri began behaving strangely.I allowed him free reign and, lo and behold, this is where he chose to land.Your new home.And now that we have been united at last, I hope you will forgive me for speaking my mind.”

He proceeded to slam both hands on the table and push himself to a standing position.

“Lady Alice!Please return to the order.We need your sword now more than ever.More than an army of thousands.”

“…I cannot,” she whispered.

Eldrie seemed genuinely taken aback by the quiet admission.

“Why not?!”His eyes slid passed her shoulder to the boy in the wheelchair, a dark look settling on his face.“Is it because of _that one_?The man who escaped from prison?The man who flouted the law?Who raised his sword against your fellow knights, the prime senator, and the pontifex?Is he still leading your heart astray?…”

Alice turned in her chair to look at Eugeo for herself.She couldn’t help the small smile that slid onto her lips as she took in his lean shoulders, the curve of his jawline, and his messy hair, still wind swept from being outside for so long that day.This was apparently not the reaction Eldrie had been hoping for.

“Then, there is but one solution for your confusion.I shall eliminate him!”

Alice guessed that her disciple had placed a hand on the hilt of his sword by the way Eugeo’s eyes flashed.Then, a cruel smirk twisted itself onto his face.

“Oh, I would love to see you try.”

“Stop it, both of you.”She huffed in irritation as she turned back to face her apprentice.“He fought not for himself, but for what he believed was right.For justice.Is that not what the knighthood fights for?He defeated us one after the other; including the commander.When you fought him, surely you could feel the purity of his conviction in the weight of his sword?”

Behind her there was a muttered, “We actually fought with chains and whips.”

Eldrie growled and spat out, “If he is as _pure_ as you say, then why won’t he take up his sword and help us now?How could he—,“ he then turned his attention to Eugeo directly, “How could you allow yourself to be reduced to such a _pathetic_ state and shackle a woman like this to these _hinterlands_?!If what I heard is true, and you killed the pontifex for the sake of the people—then it is your duty to join them at the Eastern Gate and defend the land!”

Suddenly, the cutlery on the table started to shake, just like the axe head that afternoon.Eldrie didn’t notice, but Alice certainly did.She glimpsed over her shoulder at Eugeo and saw him white knuckling the arms of his chair again.She slammed her left hand down onto her vibrating cutlery and stood up, inadvertently copying the man across the table from her.

“Forgive me, Eldrie.But I cannot go with you to assist in the battle.It has nothing to do with him. _I_ can no longer wield my sword. _That_ is the reason.If you and I were to cross blades now, I doubt I could last three strikes.”

The silver knight stared at her blankly, his shoulders dropping in defeat and…disappointment?Or was it something else?

“Is that so?Alright.I will not press you further.”

He bent deeply at the waist, picked up his wine goblet, and lifted it as if to toast.

“Lady Alice…I bid you farewell.You were my mentor and as long as I live I shall never forget all that you have taught me.”

Alice lifted her own goblet and clinked it against his.

“Farewell, then.I pray you’ll be safe.”

He smiled slightly at her before lifting the wine to his lips.He downed the glass and set it back on the table.

“I’ll leave you the bottle.As a good-bye gift.I can see myself out.”

He disappeared through the door as suddenly as he had arrived.It was only the heartbreaking whine of Amayori that told Alice he had truly left.

Eugeo scoffed.“What a pretentious peacock.How much could he have actually learned from you?You were only his mentor for a month, before you disappeared for the next six.”

With a sigh she set her own, still full, wine glass down onto the table.

“It’s gotten late.You must be tired.Let’s get you to bed, shall we?”

Eugeo opened his book once more and slumped back into his chair.

“No, I think I’m going to stay up for a little while.These fairy-tales are very compelling.”

“…You’re reading a history book.”

“Yes.Fairy-tales, very convenient fairy-tales.”

Alice shook off his nonsense.He was just tired, as was she.A lot had happened that day.She just needed to get them to bed.She grabbed the book from his lap and set it on the table with the cake plates and wine glasses, ignoring his sounds of protest.She grabbed the back of his chair and began maneuvering him to the bedroom when his arm shot out and caught himself on the table.

“I said I wasn’t ready for bed.”

Alice released a deep breath to keep from snapping at him.She walked around his chair so that she was facing him.

“Well, I am.And you need my help to climb into your bed.”

He released his own deep breath.His tone was still clipped, though.

“I never asked for your help.I can get to bed by myself.”

She put her hands on her hips.

“Even if that were the case—which it most definitely is not—you need your rest anyway.Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, and I won’t be able to prepare everything by myself.”

A beat of silence, and then Eugeo inclined his head up toward Alice.

“There are things to ‘prepare’?What exactly does that mean?”

Her hands fell from her hips and she started twisting her fingers, not looking at him.

“Eldrie knows where we are now.He’s going to tell the rest of them where we are.You know we can’t stay here.”

His shoulders started shaking, then the most hurtful, mocking laughter emerged from his lips.

“Of _course_! Of. Course.We’re running away again—.”

“Stop it,” she whispered.

“—No, _you’re_ running away again.How perfectly typical—.”

“ _Stop it_ ,”She said, slightly louder this time.

“—Unable to face the problem, so you just pretend it doesn’t even exist in the first place.”

“STOP IT!”She screamed it as loud as she could while folding her arms over her chest and retreating to a window on the far wall, staring out into the unending darkness.

“Look at you.You’re running away now!”

As Alice felt the tears building up in her eyes, she whirled around with fists clenched and yelled the one thing she had promised herself she would never ask.

“Why are you still so angry after all of this time?!”

She was panting out her breaths when her eye widened in realization of what she had just said.She brought her hands up to her mouth, but it was too late.The room had gone silent except for the crackling of logs in the wood stove.Eugeo was deathly still, like a preditor about to pounce.

Then, in a barely audible tone he uttered, “Did you just ask me _why_ I’m _angry_?”

Alice swallowed.

“I am… _angry_ … because these people I risked my life for are so completely petty and selfish.I lost my legs for these _stupid, arrogant_ people…And the thanks I get is my face in the dirt and a foot on my back.”

His voice was gradually getting louder as he worked himself up, listing his grievances against the world.

“I am _angry_ that the Axiom Church, which I reverently followed, stole my best friend from me when we were children.I’m _angry_ that the reason she was stollen was because a crazy woman—who is even more greedy, petty, and selfish than the rapists calling themselves nobles at the academy—was scared someone was going to become stronger than her and kill her.Well, I guess it’s a good thing we showed her that people weaker than her can kill her, too, right?!”

Alice could feel her shoulders shrinking in on her with every venom filled word that left his tongue.

“I’m angry at the integrity knights, who I admired for so long, turned out to be nothing but a bunch of puppets on strings.Blindly following said crazy woman, and never once questioning if that was a _good_ idea.”

He was shouting now.

“And I’m angry at _you_.For using me and _my_ problems as a crutch so that you don’t have to deal with _yours_!”

He was clutching the arms of his chair with white knuckles, as tears of frustration began to slide down his face.Alice could feel her own set of twin rivers running down hers.

“But above all,” his voice was quiet again, “more than anything else in the world, I am _furious_ at _him_.For lying to me—in more ways than one.For saying everything was going to be just fine, when it clearly isn’t.”

His voice was gradually getting louder once more.

“For making that ridiculous promise, that he never—not in a million years—could possibly keep!For performing miracle after miracle after miracle, but not following through on this last, most important one!For being dead!For him being dead and me being alive and him taking that choice from me.For forcing me to live this life with all the hardships and emotions that _come_ from his being dead.I am so beyond _livid_ for all of that and more.I hate him! _I hate him!_ ”

Eugeo pounded his right fist onto the table in front of him.His breathing was heavy, as though he had just participated in an arduous sparring match. His hand relaxed, his shoulders sagged, and his chin dropped to his chest.This was the image of a man who had taken on the world, and after one too many beatings, the world had won.Then, in a voice so quiet Alice almost missed it, he said, “And I miss him.”

His voice broke in a slight whimper.The sound reminiscent of a young boy who was scared of his nightmares.Though Alice had no idea where that impression had come from.Only Alice Zuberg would be able to make that comparison.She was Alice Synthesis Thirty, imposter and usurper.The unwanted body thief.Eugeo was right.She had hid behind a veneer of cheer and optimism, trying to fix him instead of herself.And as he started speaking again, she forced herself to see him in an honest light, without the honeymooner’s filter layered over top.

“I just want him to come back….I _need_ him to come back, so that I can finally stop being angry.So that I can stop being angry and wield a sword again.To wield it the way he taught me, with love and compassion and kindness.”

He lifted his head and look straight into Alice’s eyes for the first time in months, his own shining, though the tears had stopped falling.

“So that I can protect this world and all its people that he loved so much.So that I can defend the Axiom Church and stand with the integrity knights.”

A slight, gentle smile graced his face as he said, “And so that I can help shoulder your burdens, so that your problems aren’t as all consuming as they are now.”

As the knot inAlice’s stomach finally loosened she could feel something else welling up inside her chest, something she couldn’t exactly put a name to.But it was warm and light and, most importantly, it felt _safe_.She couldn’t control the sob that left her throat, even if she wanted to.

“Oh, Eugeo.”

She quickly rounded the table and practically fell into him with a vice-like grip around his shoulders.And after a slight hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her, too.This was the first time they had hugged since meeting again as strangers all those months ago.Things weren’t perfect.Far from it, actually, but in this moment, everything seemed almost alright.

“…Alice?”

“Yes?”

“Did you mean it earlier when you said you wanted your memories back?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys!! This chapter was a beast. It was a monster. It was a behemoth, a juggernaut! You get the picture. A total of 12,257 words (8,128 of which were written in the last thirty hours, BTW). If the ending is a little janky, then I’m sorry. No Beta, we die like men!
> 
> Now let me just apologize real quick for taking…wow, four months? Really?! Geez, um…I’m sorry!
> 
> In my defense, I got a job during the months of July, August, and October. And if you live in the US, then you know how big a deal that is right now. But! Don’t worry, it was just a temp job, and I am once again unemployed (yay?). The only thing that’s going to hold me up now is…FAMILY!! Yay!
> 
> No joke. I have people coming to visit in 10, no, 9 days now. F*ck! That means I only have about a week to unpack all the unopened moving boxes from January. DON’T JUDGE ME!!!
> 
> Then, in December, I will be traveling to an undisclosed location to visit my grandmother and attend a meeting for the SAO cult of which I am the leader. (And by that I mean that me and all my convention buddies are getting together to watch Alicization because the last person in our friend group finally caved and is now watching it.)
> 
> I think that’s it for real life stuff, so let’s get to Chapter Notes!
> 
> There were three things I wanted to explore with this:  
> 1 - The five stages of grief  
> 2 - Eugeo’s canon, but hardly ever explored in fan fiction angry streak/temper  
> 3 - How much difference is there really when you swap out a catatonic Kirito for a silent sulking Eugeo?
> 
> For the stages of grief, you see Eugeo start in denial while he’s at the cathedral. Then, when he gets thrown back into the “real world” (using that term loosely for obvious reasons) he enters the next stage of anger. And it is only when he is finally able to release everything that has been building up inside him for (let’s face it) years, is he finally able to slide seamlessly into the third stage of bargaining. “If Kirito comes back, then (blank) will be achieved.”
> 
> Now, for all of you who think “Dee! You didn’t have to make him THAT angry.” I say, “Uhhhh…Yes, I did.”
> 
> Which brings us to point two: Eugeo’s canon, but hardly ever explored in fan fiction angry streak/temper.
> 
> Let me start by saying that, yes, for the most part he is a soft boi. I do know this, but as I mentioned before he has been repressing this anger for years. Every once in a while it comes out. Dealing with those two scum f*cks at the academy, fighting the various integrity knights in the cathedral, talking to Quinella about Alice. And then, when you read the books and get the context that the reason Kirito and Alice were making him that toy sword out of platinum oak for his birthday was because a month previous he had broken his original one during a temper tantrum…Ooh, boy!
> 
> And point number three, the answer is…very little actually. Alice is basically alone in a house for months with a boy who is forcing her to essentially talk to herself.
> 
> Okay, guys! The next chapter will be nowhere near this long. Hopefully it will come out some time in December, but I make no promises because LIFE! See you next time!!


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